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Friday, February 17, 2017

PA Senate Ed Chair Wants To Trash Education

John Eichelberger has been a Pennsylvania state senator for over a decade, and during those years, he has been no friend to public schools or the teachers who work in them.

Seriously-- this is District 30.

Eichelberger is a Republican upstart who was swept into office on the wave of voter anger over the infamous late-night pay raise of 2005. He was supported by an assortment of conservatives including Pat Toomey. He had previously worked in the insurance biz and as a Blair County Commissioner.He represents Pennsylvania Senate District 30, just one of the many completely gerrymandered districts in Pennsylvania.

And most recently, Eichelberger has surfaced as the sponsor of the SB 229, a bill recycled from previous sessions and aimed at making sick days a locally-negotiated part of teacher contracts. In other words, putting them on the table as one more thing that can be stripped from a contract. He's also the legislator behind SB 166, the bill that would end paycheck deductions for paying union dues. Is he one of those backseat grandstanding hacks whose bills have no chance of success. Well, no. He's the chairman of the Education Committee.

Some pretty feisty language has been thrown around in response to Eichelberger's bill. Are we perhaps misjudging Eichelberger? Is he actually a friend of education who means well? Does he sincerely think he's looking out for teachers' and students' best interests?

One critic noted that the sick day policy seemed like a tax on employees, not something that would actually help students. Eichelberger doesn't much care. He wants to penalize teachers and union members because they're taking advantage of the system.

So what about that payroll deduction bill? Did Eichelberger have any elegant explanation of why that bill was necessary? Not according to Hoopes.In response to a question, Eichelberger described SB 166 as “a lead-in
to Right to Work,” meaning legislation mandating that employees be
allowed to opt out of union membership while still receiving union
benefits, obviating the existence of unions themselves.

And when discussing the sick leave bill, Eichelberger at first stuck to the script. School boards asked for this. It gives them more flexibility in negotiating (aka one more thing they can use to leverage giving teachers less and less). But later in the evening, he described the purpose a little more honestly.

But later in Monday’s meeting,
Eichelberger indicated that his interest was not in easier bargaining,
but in taking away benefits he didn’t feel teachers deserved.

“We’re
talking about sick days for people who only work 8½ months. It’s
ridiculous,” Eichelberger said, a comment that received an audible,
collective groan from audience members.

Yes, if teachers really cared about their work, they would schedule illnesses for themselves and their families during the summer. Because what every parent wants is for their child to be greeted by a coughing, sneezing, germ-laden teacher who can't take the day off.

Eichelberger also revealed that he would like to look at getting rid of some state universities, with Clarion and Cheney likely targets for "the chopping block." Why does he think they are unnecessary? Because now we have lots of community colleges, and those should be good enough. Besides, enrollments down. When asked if he saw any correlation between lowered enrollment, slashed state support for the university system, and increased tuition to make up the difference, he said no, that didn't look like a meaningful connection to him.

Oh, but it gets even better,

Eichelberger also took the occasion to complain about "inner city" education programs that were trying to get minority students into colleges where they just failed anyway, so let's just put them in a nice vocational program instead and be done with it. Yes, that's right. In 2017 an elected state senator is suggesting that there's no point in trying to get black and brown kids to succeed in college, because you know how Those People are.

Like all good reformsters, Eichelberger also wants to effectively destroy tenure and allow school districts to get rid of teachers for purely economic reasons. You know, when schools don't have the revenue any more, just shut them down because it's "a sound business decision." One audience member disagreed:

The mentality is that we need to save money regardless of student
demand. It seems like you’re just coming up with new
reasons for districts to eliminate positions without taking students
into account.

2 comments:

These are really horrible people. Seriously I mean that's usually something that goes unsaid (it's not nice to call people names, after all) but we're talking about someone who, blessed with the extraordinary ability to control public policy, uses his position to intentionally lower the quality of education and to make life worse for the most vulnerable members or society. Simply put, that makes you an awful person. Or at the very least someone with no bucks in the moral bank account.

Pennsylvania has desperate problems but perhaps they're topped by those of Florida. A sickening piece from ProPublica on "Alternative Education"is worth wading through for those with high waders and strong stomach. Our Betsy thrives on this approach to the pressure of accountability and grading of schools. Read it and weep: https://www.propublica.org/article/alternative-education-using-charter-schools-hide-dropouts-and-game-system?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter